Autonomous vehicle research in my county

I live and work in a suburban county an hour away from Silicon Valley. To outsiders in the San Francisco Bay Area, Contra Costa County is just known for its gigantic oil refineries in Richmond and Martinez.

Recently, I found out that a large office park in San Ramon has an autonomous shuttle program running between parking lots. It's the first in the country. I tried to check it out yesterday, but I don't think it runs on weekends. Apparently, there are two buses and they were built by a French company.

But there's more! I knew that my office in Walnut Creek is next to the county transit agency. That's why I get to plug in for free-- the county transit agency installed four free Level 2 chargers in the parking garage we share. 

I did not know until this week that the county transit authority apparently converted the defunct Concord Naval Weapons Station (which was shut down after the Cold War ended*) into an autonomous vehicle testing facility! This is such a great idea.

*In the movie The Rock, the VX warheads were stolen from the Concord Naval Weapons Station.